APPEAL TO THE MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
During the next plenary session in Strasbourg (16-19 June), members of the European Parliament are being asked to vote on the so-called "Return Directive".
The text has already been adopted by EU Interior Ministers and includes an administrative detention period for irregular migrants of up to 18 months. This is a completely exaggerated measure which establishes the basis for the real criminalisation of migrants, who will be deprived of their freedom and detained in inhumane and improperly-run structures, without having committed any crime.
Furthermore, the directive foresees the possibility to detain and expel unaccompanied minors, to return migrants to transit countries, different from their home countries, plus the possibility of enforcing a re-entry ban valid for the whole of Europe for up to 5 years.
Many procedural guarantees and legal benefits for migrants wishing to appeal against a return decision have disappeared from the final text, therefore also endangering the rights of those migrants who could lawfully claim refugee protection status.
Because this directive lowers European and international human rights' protection standards by worsening migrants' reception conditions,
Because what is at stake is not only EU migration policies but also our social model,
Because the law must be equal for all and because fundamental freedoms are not negotiable,
We call on members of the European Parliament not to adopt this directive.
First signatories of the petition:
Italian:Dario Fo ( Nobel Prize), Franca Rame (actress), Moni Ovadia (actor, writer), Margherita Hack (astrophysicist), Danilo Zolo (jurist and philosopher), Wilma Labate (film director);
Belgian: Luc and Jean Pierre Dardenne (film directors);Georges-Henry Beauthier (lawyer, ex President of the League for Human Rights), Carine Russo (Senator, inspirer of the movement Les Marches Blanches), Eric Toussaint (Professor and President of the Committee for the Cancellation of Public Debt for Third World Countries), Pierre Mertens (writer); Dan Van Raemdonck,Honourable President l'Association européenne pour la défense des droits de l'Homme (AEDH), Vice-président de la Fédération International des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH), François Houtart, professeur émérite de l'Université catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve; Clothilde Nyssens (belgian national MP),Erik De Bruyn, Spokesperson SP.a Rood (left of the SP.a)
Spanish:Pedro Almodovar (movie director), Pilar Bardem (actress), Javier Encinas Bardem (actor), Penelope Cruz (actress), Marcelino Camacho (trade unionist), Rosa Regàs (writer and ex director of Spanish National Library), José Miguel Monzón (Gran Wyoming) (actor), María Isasi (actress), Fernando Trueba (director), Luis Perezagua (actor) , Ana Otero (actress), Miguel Ríos (singer), Xabier Elorriaga (actor), Gorka Landaburu (journalist), Pepa Terrón (journalist), Juan Carlos Madrid (theatre director), José luis Sayago (actor), Amparo Pascual (actress), Cristina Rota (actress theatre director), Eduard Fernández (actor), Emma Cohen (actress) Jorge J. Montes (historian), José Sacristán (actor), Laura Cepeda (actress), Luís García Montero (poet), Luz Olier (actress), Mercedes Sampietro (actress), Mónica Cano (actress), Nicolás Dueñas (actor), Nur Al Levi (actress), Pepe Viyuela (actor), Sheila González (actress), Sigfrid Monleón (director) and Vicky Peña (actress),
French: Manu Chao (singer), Susan George (economist and actress), Toure Kunda (musician), Philippe Diaz (film maker);
Greek: Michalis Grigoriou (architect and professor at Ionian University), Dimitrios Halastis (artist), Tasos Koronaris (Greek Social Forum), Yannis Kakoulides (writer), Nadia Valavani (writer, economist), Jina Politi (professor emeritus - Aristotele University), Georgios Makris (actor, screenwriter); Dimos Tsaknias, writer.
Portuguese: Jorge Silva Melo (film director, actor and writer) and Luis Moita (vice-rector of the Autonomous University of Lisbon), Mísia (singer), Pedro Costa (director), Jorge Silva Melo (director), Miguel Vale de Almeida (University Professor ISCTE ), Clara Ferreira Alves (Juornalist), Ana Lopes (antropologist); Luís Moita - Vice rector of University of Lisboa, Rui Tavares (writer and historian) , Augusto M. Seabra (writer), Bruno Peixe Dias (researcher), Tiago Ralha Farinha (researcher) Christiane Machado Coêlho (sociologist), José Reis (University professor)
German: Albert Scherr (professor, committee for fundamental rights and democracy);Morus Markard ( Professor Free University of Berlin), Birgit Mahnkopf (professor Berlin School of Economics), Elmar Alvater ( professor Free University of Berlin), Martin Singe (committee for fundamental rights and democracy), Friederike Habermann (writer).